In order to become an effective teacher, you must come to know your students. What are their interests? What are their strengths? What are their needs? As you begin to find answers to these questions, you will uncover the essence of how to reach each student and affect learning. To that end I am a firm believer in building personal relationships. Students have a need to know that I am "on their side" and I want them to succeed not only in my class but also in all aspects of their lives.
I have found that connecting to students in the classroom begins with making personal contact elsewhere. I am that teacher that stands in the hall as students pass between classes; I make eye contact; greet students; high five, ask about the big game or the upcoming theater event; comment on the "fresh" new look that a kid may be sporting; smile and do whatever I can to lift a student who appears to be down. This is the beginning, the icebreaker to uncover the depths to which a student can be reached.
The next important piece to relationship building is opening dialogue and probing into student interests. I find that attending extracurricular activities affords this opportunity. I I do my best to attend sporting events, dances, recitals, fund raisers and the like, not only to support students efforts but also to engage in light conversation with the other students who find entertainment value in each event. Such dialogue and personal contact provides multiple benefits. It sends the message to students that I care about their endeavors outside of the classroom and it can lead to gaining insight on student interests and needs.
I begin each class by making mention of the previous day's proceedings and try to link it to some outside class event, reinforcing the idea that the class activities are relevant to their everyday experiences. The intent is to activate some degree of intrinsic motivation for learning within my classroom and to build an analogous parallel to the lesson at hand. I find that this approach stimulates discussion and engages students in real discourse that is open and often times quite lively. The ultimate goal here is to create an environment in which students share their thoughts openly and without fear of reprisal (an emphasis on mutual respect for others is required during all conversation). An ancillary benefit to this approach is that this scenario affords opportunity for formative assessment of the understandings and misconceptions of the class which can serve to inform the direction of the lesson.
The ultimate goal is to build a learning community within the classroom and that requires personal connection not only with teacher and student, but also among the students themselves. This can get tricky. Invariably, there are clicks and subgroups within any high school setting that tend to isolate and extricate individuals with the social dynamic that is school. I don't have all the answers to this one, but I'm working on it.
I have found that connecting to students in the classroom begins with making personal contact elsewhere. I am that teacher that stands in the hall as students pass between classes; I make eye contact; greet students; high five, ask about the big game or the upcoming theater event; comment on the "fresh" new look that a kid may be sporting; smile and do whatever I can to lift a student who appears to be down. This is the beginning, the icebreaker to uncover the depths to which a student can be reached.
The next important piece to relationship building is opening dialogue and probing into student interests. I find that attending extracurricular activities affords this opportunity. I I do my best to attend sporting events, dances, recitals, fund raisers and the like, not only to support students efforts but also to engage in light conversation with the other students who find entertainment value in each event. Such dialogue and personal contact provides multiple benefits. It sends the message to students that I care about their endeavors outside of the classroom and it can lead to gaining insight on student interests and needs.
I begin each class by making mention of the previous day's proceedings and try to link it to some outside class event, reinforcing the idea that the class activities are relevant to their everyday experiences. The intent is to activate some degree of intrinsic motivation for learning within my classroom and to build an analogous parallel to the lesson at hand. I find that this approach stimulates discussion and engages students in real discourse that is open and often times quite lively. The ultimate goal here is to create an environment in which students share their thoughts openly and without fear of reprisal (an emphasis on mutual respect for others is required during all conversation). An ancillary benefit to this approach is that this scenario affords opportunity for formative assessment of the understandings and misconceptions of the class which can serve to inform the direction of the lesson.
The ultimate goal is to build a learning community within the classroom and that requires personal connection not only with teacher and student, but also among the students themselves. This can get tricky. Invariably, there are clicks and subgroups within any high school setting that tend to isolate and extricate individuals with the social dynamic that is school. I don't have all the answers to this one, but I'm working on it.